jeudi 31 octobre 2013

App replaces doctors’ equipment, enables eye tests anywhere

The Peek Vision app enables roving doctors to give patients a full eye exam using their smartphones.

Consumers have replaced a number of devices — mp3 players, digital
cameras, handheld games consoles — with their smartphones, so it seems
possible that the handsets could even replace expensive medical
equipment. The Peek Vision app just might be proving that point, enabling roving doctors to give patients a full eye exam using their smartphones.
Developed by members of the International Centre for Eye Health
— a research group based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine — the app leverages the existing functionalities of today’s
smartphones to allow doctors in rural or low-income areas to deliver eye
care to citizens in a mobile and inexpensive way. Doctors and
optometrists using Peek Vision will be able to check patients’ abilities
to see color, test for long and short-sightedness, and also detect the
presence of cataracts and other eye conditions. The app uses
smartphones’ cameras, flashlights and display to check how the eyes
react to stimuli, while doctors can also track the progress of separate
patients and also easily keep a record of their geolocation.
The team are currently carrying out research to ensure the app is
accurate enough for medical purposes, although a release date and price
hasn’t yet been announced. Are there other ways smartphone features
could replace professional equipment with a cheap portable alternative?
Website: www.peekvision.org
Contact: www.peekvision.org/contact-usSpotted by Murray Orange, written by SpringwiseSource : Springwise